It's about our community and our spirituality!

Of course Mike Duncan, the chairman of the Republican National Committee said that he was appalled by the song called Barack the Magic Negro distributed by Chip Saltsman. Set to the tune of the sixties Puff the Magic Dragon, the song first reached national attention when it was played on Rush “The Lush” Limbaugh’s radio show back in early 2007. The title was drawn from a Los Angeles Times column that suggested Mr. Obama appealed to those who feel guilty about the nation’s history of mistreatment of African-Americans.

Mr. Duncan said that the presidential election should have been a wakeup call for the Republican Party to reach out and bring more diversity to their virtually white only membership. Mr. Duncan claimed that he was shocked to think that anyone would find the parody appropriate. The fact that a candidate for the RNC chairmanship would stoop to such juvenile political humor is proof positive that not everyone in the Republican Party is serious about more inclusion.

Mr. Saltsman, a former chair of the Tennessee Republican Party, was a top advisor to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and managed former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign, sent other RNC members a CD which included the controversial tune about President-elect Barack Obama. Mr. Saltsman defended his actions Friday saying that the song was intended as a joke. Mr. Saltsman obviously has the same sense of humor as those white students back in Jena, Louisiana who thought hanging a noose under a tree was a good joke to play on black students. It was only after the manifestation of some of the worst racial disparity began to collect the nation’s attention with marches coordinated by members of the black community from every corner of the country did some people see that hanging nooses isn’t just fun and games but something to be taken seriously. Mr. Saltsman probably needs to learn the same lessons about his race tinged humor.

Now it just might be that Mr. Saltsman is a man who is sensitive to issues of race and just simply exercised poor judgment. But, there is the potential for this same poor judgment to apply to other issues of race as well. Mr. Saltsman already shows his willingness to play the race card. What chance would issues sensitive to the black community have with such a man in a position of high political importance? But black people are supposed to believe that the Republican Party stands ready to welcome us into their fold.

I remember the political race to the general election and the conservative rhetoric that Mr. Obama was an elitist out of touch with the reality of most Americans. Whether or not that statement is true or not is a matter of opinion. But it should be pretty obvious that people like Republican notables like Mr. Saltsman is a racial elitist who is out of touch with the reality of most black Americans.

In the current environment of social disparity that happens to fall along racial lines with black people falling short by every measure without a single exception, it should be no surprise to anyone of reasonable intelligence to recognize the need for racial sensitivity. Unfortunately, we see just the opposite. We see various Republican leadership wannabes attending their white only country clubs and living large with so many homes that they have to hire someone to research their property holdings. And when one of these high profile Republican members wants to play a joke, he stoops to racial discrimination. Next thing you know another member of the RNC wants to demonstrate how funny he can be by painting himself in black face and dancing a jig ala Al Jolson style. And when the man is busted for his foolishness, he’ll defend himself by saying it was a joke.

Unfortunately, over and over again, people in the Republican Party are quick to demonstrate that they have as much racial sensitivity and awareness as a rock. At least the rock has the good sense not to do anything that might be thoughtless or tacky. But the leadership of the Republican Party is not so astute. We are more likely to see a member of the Republican Party get on stage before his constituents and point to the only obvious racial minority in the group and happily refer to the attendee as macaca. We are more likely to see someone in the Republican Party say something stupid like black people who have lost everything in the world, including their loved ones, to a flood fueled by a hurricane as so fortunate to be housed in the Astrodome because they didn’t have jack before. There was a lot of sympathy for black people that day.

Yet, these are the types of people who represent the RNC. Is there any surprise that the number of black people we saw at the Republican National Convention could be counted on one’s fingers? The RNC is nothing but one huge, insensitive, hate filled, and racist joke with black people the subject. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t so serious. Mr. Duncan wants to feign indignation and surprise with Mr. Saltsman’s latest manifestation that supports the Republican’s exclusive, white only mindset. But honestly, it appears to be nothing more than the standard GOP operating procedure.

More often than not, when someone says that they don’t notice the color of someone’s skin, that person is a liar. Skin color is one of those things that are totally noticeable. To walk up to someone and say that they don’t notice color is like walking up to someone and saying you didn’t notice their gender. Nobody would think it’s cool not to notice that a person is a woman or a man. Our gender helps to form our identity. Why should it be different for skin tone?

But a lot of people claim that they are racial neutral and argue that black people should not want to change the status quo. Everything is fine the way it is becomes the way things are developed naturally. It is only natural that white people have a vast variety of white role models and white representation in their daily pursuits while black people are often considered racist or racial separatist for wanting more black oriented representation in our daily lives. Often, someone defending the status quo will say something like, black people were well represented by some show with black characters either cancelled years ago or part of the BET or MTV network so that should be more than enough for impressionable black people to develop well rounded identities. One black person in a crowd of a hundred is more than enough to be considered racially fair and equal.

When the absurdity of the argument from the person claiming to be racially oblivious is brought to light, it is only a matter of time before the bias of their true racial nature starts to manifest. All it takes is just a paragraph or two to point out the inconsistencies of their argument and then their disdain for black people burst forth in all its fury. All of sudden, the person who never sees issues of race is tired of seeing black people on the television. The person who thought that the old black television shows were the exception because in general black people are immoral, have a propensity for violence, and/or have no decent work ethic. People who claim to be racially generic will say that if black people want equal representation then black people need to do for black people what white people do for other white people.

A lot of people think they are racially neutral and support people regardless of their color. But those are just flowery words with woefully little substance. The same person that says the racial status quo is fine will turnaround and say if black people want jobs black people should get an education. The racially prejudiced thinking is that the black person is not educated or does not have the experience for gainful employment. There is an assumption that black people will always be unqualified or inherently inferior to their white counterparts.

Why is there an inherent belief that black people are unqualified and inferior? Could there be a connection to the fact that we really don’t see very many images of qualified black people in a variety of well received role models? True enough that the majority of the population is white and so it probably stands to reason that more characters in media will be white. That’s a given. But the scant few black characters in media do little to represent the black twelve point five percent of the population that is black.

White people make up seventy percent of our national population. So it stands to reason that one in every seven professional characters in media is black. It would stand to reason that one in every seven movie or television shows would be centered on the lives of black people. It would stand to reason that one in seven of the pictures in magazines would feature black models or black subjects.

But instead of recognizing the racial disproportion for what it is, we have to assume that the deluge of white only images is an accident of the way things evolved naturally. It is a natural evolution based on a foundation of racial discrimination that is part and parcel of America.

People who claim to be racially neutral are far from it. All it takes is a brief exchange or two for the racist nature of their character to become evident. These people protect their racial prejudices with the assertion that skin color simply doesn’t register in their psyche and that their racial discrimination is a happenstance of life.

But all it really means is that they are insensitive to issues of race and have yet to admit the depth of their racial animosity. People who see and acknowledge a person’s skin color are about as racist as a person who recognizes and acknowledges a person’s gender is a sexist. Racial obliviousness is not a virtue. It is nothing more than an excuse to keep the racial status quo.

My parents did a pretty good job of showing me the importance of sharing. With my brothers and sisters, or whenever I had friends, cousins, or other family members come to our house and I didn’t share my toys or anything else with them I learned that there were heavy consequences for not having a generous spirit. If I didn’t share I could have whatever I thought I owned and controlled free and clear taken away from me. I could actually have my things taken away from me and temporarily given to somebody else for them to play with. And if I continued to not cooperate, what may have been temporary could quickly flip and be made permanent. I learned, sometimes the hard way, that sharing is an important concept to teach to every member of any community.

Unfortunately, not too many people seem to have learned these lessons or may have taken these lessons to heart. The whole Joe the plumber saga made famous by the political race to the White House exposed some really twisted, anti sharing thinking by a lot of people. I saw the video of Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher trying to raise an issue with then Senator Barack Obama about his tax policy. Mr. Wurzelbacher gave a sad story about wanting to buy a plumbing business but didn’t want to do it under Mr. Obama’s plan for taxes. Mr. Obama’s plan for taxes is that those who are more capable, people who have an income of more than a quarter million dollars, should pay a higher tax rate. Why? The thinking is that those who can need to help make up for those who are less fortunate. Mr. Obama tried to explain to Mr. Wurzelbacher that when we spread the wealth, more people will be able to help support Mr. Wurzelbacher planned business and we all benefit from it.

Mr. Wurzelbacher, and a lot of people who think just like him, responded that Mr. Obama’s plan sounds like socialism. Forcing people to pay a higher tax rate simply because they are more fortunate and may have more disposable income sounds like Marxism. These are communistic principles and Mr. Obama is trying to change the tenets of capitalism!

Actually, America has a history of multi-tiered tax rates. As people go up the income ladder, people pay a higher tax rate. Take someone who makes say thirty thousand dollars a year. For the sake of simple argument let us say that this person has a take home income of two thousand dollars a month. Paying for a place to stay, transportation, food, and other necessities, there isn’t much left for anything else at the end of the month. Compare this to the person who makes three hundred thousand dollars a year. Their monthly take home income is about twenty thousand a month. After they pay for their transportation, food, and other necessities, logic says that this person should have a lot more money at the end of the month. Logic says that this person can afford to share with people who don’t have as much.

But the idea of sharing this extra wealth through a tax policy is simply too much to bear for a lot of people. People want to control what they give or who they help. People should be free to say no to the though of helping our less fortunate neighbors or free to pick and choose who they want to help and when. It is this type of thinking that has led to the awesome chasm of disparity between the people who have a great deal and the people who don’t have much here in America. And instead of people having a sense of compassion for the people who need help, we have been manipulated into having more compassion for people who already sit on top of mountains of treasure.

Under the guise of staying true to the concept of capitalism we are becoming a country of people less likely to put the good of the many ahead of the good of the few or the one. Many of us don’t event want to entertain the idea of living as a community of people that spreads a minimum livable amount of wealth to everyone. We prefer to keep our poor people poor and to have a greater portion of wealth concentrated in a smaller pool of people. Some of our political leaders will say that we don’t need to spread the wealth, we simply need to create more wealth. But regardless, the more wealth the country creates, the more that wealth is likely to go to the people already wealthy and the less likely that wealth will be distributed to the mass of people who need it.

There’s a reason why we hear statistics like the upper one percent of wealthy Americans control two hundred percent of the wealth in this country or that the average American corporate executives make five hundred times the salary of the average worker. There’s a reason that we hear stories of schools in one district are allowed to crumble and to fall into disrepair while others thrive with limousines for school buses and state of the art liquid crystal personal display devices being used for books. We are less and less likely to share our good fortune with our neighbors. It is more important to a lot of people that a billionaire makes another billion dollars than to have a tax system that provides for better public infrastructure. But providing for public infrastructure is too socially responsible for a country obsessed with run amok capitalism.

I learned a long time ago that if I don’t share what I have with people who might not be as fortunate I run the risk of having what I have taken away. It is a basic tenet of being in a community. If I found myself in the middle of the ocean sharing a rubber raft with a person with a plenty of water and food rations I would hope that he or she would share their food and water with me. If not, I would do my damnedest to share my parent’s lesson on what happens when people don’t share with my rubber raft associate.

Months ago, when Senator John McCain actually pulled ahead of Senator Barack Obama in the polls asking people who they favored for the presidency, somebody actually wrote that black people will riot if Mr. Obama did not win the presidency, as if to say that black people have become so used to having our political aspirations satisfied that we have difficulty accepting disappointment. Everybody knows that when a black man or woman running for Mayor or Governor or any other political office and fails black people are quick to take to the streets. Kind of like hockey fans when their team wins the Stanley Cup. These are the same black people who riot when the company they work for don’t hire the black candidate to fill a position.

I hope you can tell that I’m being just plain silly. Truth be told I’ve never heard of black people rioting because a black candidate didn’t get the majority vote and lost to the white opponent. Black people are well aware that the political cards are stacked against the outcome that most favors the black community. If Mr. Obama doesn’t win, what’s one more disappointment for the black community? I seriously doubt if there’s going to be some big, nationwide black uprising.

But nevertheless, somebody wrote some time ago that black people are preparing to riot so therefore, white people need to prepare for anarchy. It is a situation similar to the Y2K scare that said at the end of the second millennium, civilization would seize up because our computer driven systems, nearly everything in the modern world, would suffer an information crisis. Nothing evil happened on midnight on the eve of Y2K. It would’ve been nice had it did. That way, all the people who invested in freeze dried food, electric generators, home water purification system, firearms and ammunition, a lifetime supply of toilet paper, and who knows what else would’ve gotten something for their survival gear investment. But Y2K turned out to be without exception the biggest dud to feed our collective anxiety.

When it looked like Mr. Obama would lose, some people thought it would be prudent to prepare for the day Obama loses, or DOL, on November 4th. DOL would be the straw that broke the frustrated black community’s back and we would all lose our minds and riot against the establishment. At least, that was the thinking when it looked like Mr. McCain could actually pull off an upset with his pick of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate and people became enamored with the idea of having a political unknown with an Ellie Mae Clampett persona going to the White House. It looked like Mr. McCain was truly going to pull off an upset akin to Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone, upsetting the superior pugilist Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers, in the Rocky saga.

But that’s all Hollywood improbable fiction. This is the real world and things rarely go along the written script.

The crash of the American economy showed Mr. McCain at his worst. The man was all over the place. The fundamentals of the economy were strong but just hours later the economy was in crisis. The next day he would hire a blue ribbon panel to study the economy for a few years. The day after that he said he would fire the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Later that day he suspended his campaign until the legislature can develop a bailout plan and he wouldn’t debate his opponent. After that he told David Letterman that he couldn’t appear on Mr. Letterman’s show because he had to go to Washington. As soon as he hung up the phone Mr. McCain was on his way to make an appearance on the CBS News with Katie Couric.

I guess Mr. McCain though in for a penny in for a pound and threw his integrity out the window with his sense of political direction. In response, many people snapped out of their flirtations with a possible McCain Palin administration and decided to put their support behind the Obama Biden effort. It looks like DOL has been averted and we are headed for DOW, short for the day Obama wins.

However, I seriously doubt if the people who were preparing for DOL will be happy that they lost their chance to assist in the reestablishment of law and order in the black community. It’s looking more and more like DOL is just like Y2K all over again, nothing but a big dud. However, all that preparation for the defense of the establishment from a black community uprising could easily be applied to an offensive against the black community for the defense of the racial status quo.

On July 4th of 1910, Arthur John Johnson, better known as Jack Johnson, fought undefeated heavyweight champion James Jeffries who came out of retirement for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro. In Reno, Nevada, in front of a crowd of twenty two thousand, after watching Mr. Jeffries knocked to the canvas twice, Mr. Jeffries’ team threw in the towel to keep their man from being humiliated by a knockout. People in the black community were jubilant. People in the white community were incensed. That night, there were violent racial clashes all across the country. People called them race riots but the more accurate term would have been white people attacking black people in order to keep black people in their place.

If one thing the political campaign has shown this year is the racism of America that ranges from the very vulgar and blatant to the sophisticated and subtle. No other presidential candidate has ever had to deal with being referred to as a terrorist. No other candidate has ever been lampooned as a sambo eating waffles. No other presidential candidate had to deal with some jerk out of the opponent’s audience calling them unpatriotic or a borderline criminal or suggesting they should be decapitated. It might just be campaign rhetoric. But rumor has it that the death threats against Mr. Obama and his family have escalated in recent weeks and the Secret Service has the overtime pay receipts to prove it.

Back in the day when boxing was considered an exclusively white man’s sport because no one believed black men had the intelligence to formulate an effective boxing strategy, white people everywhere lost their minds when Jack Johnson, a black man, beat their best hope for redemption. I think it is more likely that white people who will be the ones turning violent on or shortly after Election Day. Somebody might suggest that people should prepare for an unruly black population if Mr. Obama loses. Black people might want to prepare themselves for some people’s disappointment if Mr. Obama wins.

Hopefully, after reading this, everyone will have a better idea of what it means to be white in America.

Tim Donaghy

NBA referee Tim Donaghy is due back in court for sentencing today. He faces up to 33 months in prison. Last summer, on August 15, 2007, Mr. Donaghy stunned the league by pleading guilty to federal charges that he took payoffs from a professional gambler for inside tips on games, he conspired to engage in wire fraud and transmit betting information through interstate commerce. Since then, Mr. Donaghy has claimed corruption among referees runs deeper, drawing angry denials by the league and demands that he pay hefty restitution. Mr. Donaghy pleaded for leniancy citing a professional analysis that his defense could afford that discovered he would never have committed these offenses if he was not a pathological gambler.

Even though he was fairly compensated by the NBA and enjoyed a truly unique opportunity to be involved with professional basketball without having anything in the way of talent, Mr. Donaghy marred the NBA finals by making fresh accusations that the league routinely encouraged refs to ring up bogus fouls to manipulate results. He also claimed that the league discouraged calling technical fouls on star players to keep them active in games and protect ticket sales and television ratings in order to make even more money for American corporations that already had a virtual monopoly on the ability to generate income from the games.

Court papers argued that Mr. Donaghy deserved leniency for voluntarily disclosing the alleged corruption even though he did not come clean until he was arrested. The documents also refer to one instance claiming referees rigged a 2002 playoff series to generate more revenue by forcing a seven game playoff. Although no teams were mentioned in the documents, only the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings series went to seven games during the 2002 playoffs.

NBA commissioner David Stern has called the allegations baseless since Mr. Donaghy cannot prove his allegations beyond a shadow of a doubt. Mr. Stern accused Mr. Donaghy of “singing” in order to get a lighter sentence. Mr. Stern is obviously implying that Mr. Donaghy should have followed a code of silence and kept the secrets of the league out of the public. Mr. Donaghy also implicated two of his former high school classmates. Mr. Dongahy named James Battista, the professional gambler who paid thousands of dollars for Donaghy’s tips, and Thomas Martino, who acted as a middleman. Both men pleaded guilty and were sentenced last week.

To date, 100% of NBA officials indicted and convicted for gambling have been white.

Fatal Shootings in Tennessee

Jim D. Adkisson, an unemployed trucker, is accused of killing two people and wounding six others during a children’s musical production of Annie at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Sunday morning. A four page letter found in Mr. Adkisson’s truck indicated he picked the church for the attack because he hated the liberal movement of the congregation. The letter is proof positive that Mr. Adkisson made the choice to commit a hate crime. Mr. Adkisson was on welfare and was on the verge of losing his food stamps

The attack Sunday morning lasted only minutes. Mr. Adkisson entered the church during the children’s performance and fired three blasts from his semiautomatic shotgun. The anger behind this attack may have been building for quite a while. It appears his lack of being able to obtain a job combined with his hatred for the liberal movement are two contributing factors. He said that he had targeted the church because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country. Mr. Adkisson was a loner who admitted that he hated blacks, gays and anyone different from him.

The Unitarian Universalist church advocates women’s rights and gay rights and has provided sanctuary for political refugees. The church also has fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site. The police chief said Mr. Adkisson bought the shotgun at a pawn shop about a month ago, and he wrote the letter in the last week or so. A .38-caliber handgun was found in his home.

To date, 100% of people accused or guilty of church shootings and bombings have been white according to the Cap the Steeple People foundation.

Record Breaking Federal Deficit

The United States government’s budget deficit will surge past a half trillion dollars next year, according to new estimates by the Bush administration. The deficit will hit $482 billion in the 2009 budget year. However, that figure will rise after adding the eighty billion dollars in additional Iraq war funding that is not included in the total. And the estimate could be higher yet if the economy fails to recover as the administration predicts. In a break from tradition, and in violation of new mandates from Congress, the White House did not include its full estimate of war costs. It will be the biggest deficit ever.

The deficit situation confronting the next President in early 2009 is reminiscent of that which Bill Clinton faced in 1993. Under financial pressure from Wall Street, Mr. Clinton abandoned promises of tax cuts and pushed an aggressive tax deficit reduction plan through Congress.

The Bush administration claims that the deficit was being driven to its all time high by the sagging economy and the stimulus payments being made to America’s households in an effort to keep the country from falling into a deep recession. The Bush administration refuses to connect the federal budget deficit to the tax breaks that were a tremendous benefit to wealthy Americans. Regardless, pressure is building to allow some tax cuts enacted early in Mr. Bush’s first term in 2001 and 2003 to expire as scheduled.

Monday’s figures capped a remarkable deterioration in the United States’ budgetary health under Mr. Bush’s time in office. He inherited a budget seen as producing endless huge surpluses after four straight years in positive territory. That stretch of surpluses represented a period when the country’s finances had been bolstered by a ten year period of uninterrupted economic growth, the longest expansion in U.S. history. In his first year in office, helped by projections of continuing surpluses, Mr. Bush drove through a one point three trillion dollar package of tax cuts. On average, Wealthy tax payers received about two hundred forty thousand dollars in tax savings. However, most people’s savings barely passed a thousand dollars.

To date, 100% of the people who have run the executive branch of the United States government have been white.

Lawnmower Man

Keith Walendowski is accused of shooting his Lawn Boy lawn mower because it wouldn’t start. According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Walendowski said, “I can do that, it’s my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want.” Mr. Walendowski has been charged with felony possession of a short barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed. A woman who lives at Mr. Walendowski’s house reported the incident saying that he was intoxicated. Mr. Walendowski could face up to an $11,000 fine and six years and three months in prison if convicted.

White people are ninety hundred thirty two times more likely to shoot their lawnmower according to Lawnmower Shooters Monthly.

Poor Parenting Techniques

Dear Dr. Jan,

My wife and I have a loving marriage. We have been through more than our share of hard times. One problem that keeps coming up in our relationship is her eight year old son. He is Oedipal, extremely jealous of any attention his mother gets and inappropriate around her. He touches her breasts and her behind, and constantly tries to invade her space if she’s showering or changing clothes. He also walks nude into the room where she is and touches himself in front of her. I have been trying to tell her these are unnatural behaviors, but she says the boy is just more in touch than his contemporaries and doesn’t hide his curiosity. Who is right?

Stepfather

Dear Stepfather,

What this kid is in touch with is emotional disturbance. To think that the youngster is not hiding his curiosity suggests to me that the mother has oatmeal cookies for brains. Nothing you describe is in the realm of normal child development. You somehow have to get your wife to a session with a child specialist who can convince her that the kid is off the rails. It’s possible she is feeding his neurosis. Believe me, there is nothing customary about a boy who’s in the habit of touching his mother’s breasts and behind and taking every chance he gets to see her naked. Displaying himself and attempting what sounds like masturbation is a red flag for psychiatric intervention. That your wife thinks all this is normal means there are two people in your house who need help.

Dr. Jan

White eight year old boys are four million eighty two times more likely to masturbate in front of their mother without repercussions according to Choking the Monkey Monthly.

Dad Flees With Daughter by Yacht

A divorced father with a murky background snatched his seven year old daughter during a supervised weekend visit and may be trying to flee the country on a 72-foot yacht, police say. Boston police said Tuesday they had no new information on the whereabouts of Clark Rockefeller or his daughter Reigh Boss. Authorities alleged that Mr. Rockefeller, who they said has used several aliases, grabbed the girl Sunday during a visit supervised by a social worker and fled in a vehicle driven by another man. Massachusetts posted an Amber Alert for Reigh, but canceled it Monday after New York City police reported that Rockefeller had been seen the night before at the city’s Grand Central Terminal. Authorities said they believe he may be trying to flee with his daughter Reigh on the yacht, possibly to Bermuda. The New York Police Department Harbor Patrol, the Coast Guard and the FBI searched for the yacht Monday around New York City and Long Island.

Boston police issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Rockefeller on charges of custodial kidnapping. He was also charged with assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon because the social worker was injured while trying to hold onto the vehicle. Reigh lives with her mother, Sandra Boss, who works in London as a partner in global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and who also is on the board of The Mount, Edith Wharton’s estate at Lenox, Massachusetts.

Little has been made public about Mr. Rockefeller’s background. Fraser Seitel, a spokesman for the descendants of John D. Rockefeller Sr., said Clark Rockefeller was not descended from that side of the wealthy family, and added there is no indication the fugitive was descended from William Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller Sr.’s only sibling.

To date, 100% of people who try to kidnap their children by 72-foot yacht in America have been white according to federal yachting statistics.

Prejudice Hiring Practices

Former Justice Department officials broke the law by letting Bush administration politics dictate the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, according to an internal investigation. For nearly two years Monica Goodling, a top adviser to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, discriminated against applicants for career jobs who weren’t Republican or conservative loyalists. At times, the search for GOP activists delayed filling judgeships and threatened to clog immigration courts. Ms. Goodling routinely asked career job applicants about politics.

Ms. Goodling would ask candidates things such as, what is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him? Other questions to candidates were used to guage their conservative convictions on issues such as abortion or gay marriage.

The investigation was one of several examining accusations that White House political meddling drove prosecution, policy and employment decisions within the once fiercely independent Justice Department. Those charges were spurred initially by the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and culminated with Mr. Gonzales’ resignation under fire as attorney general last September. Mr. Gonzales claims that he was unaware of the political hiring process outlined by Ms. Goodling and other Department of Justice officials.

The one hundred forty page report does not indicate whether Ms. Goodling or anyone else could face any charges. But congressional Democrats took aim, raising the possibility they would seek prosecution on a number of fronts, potentially including charges of lying to lawmakers for giving sworn testimony that contradicts Monday’s findings.

In one instance, investigators found that Ms. Goodling objected to hiring an assistant prosecutor in Washington because she said “judging from his resume, he appeared to be a liberal Democrat.” In another example, she rejected an experienced terror prosecutor to work on counterterror issues because of his wife’s political affiliations. She rejected at least one job applicant because of a rumor that she was a lesbian. Ms. Goodling is a former Republican National Committee researcher with little experience as a prosecutor. In her House Judiciary Committee testimony in May 2007, she admitted that she had crossed the lines while hiring career employees. She received immunity for her testimony and cannot be prosecuted unless proven that she lied while under oath.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto played down the report, saying, “There really is not a lot new here.”

Many are ready to believe that people in key positions to hire and fire people would rely on prejudiced political values when offering opportunities, but would never believe that people would offer hiring opportunities based on racial prejudices.

Today was a long day. The family went to the amusement park. We decided to leave earlier than planned because it started to rain. We left after being there for just four hours. Enough time to ride a few of the big rides. That’s about it. Honestly I was glad to leave. I hadn’t been to the amusement park in about ten years. My sense of self preservation prevents me from enjoying roller coasters as much as I used to. The first ride made me sick to my stomach. Is it standard roller coaster procedure these days to have loops and barrel rolls? These days, just about every thrill ride has them. And if it doesn’t have loops it’s dropping people vertically in free falls that would kill anyone with an acute angina. So when the rains came my heart was not only relieved, but probably saved. The family went home and I turned on the television.

The remake of Bewitched came on with Nicole Kidman and Will Farrel. I watched it for about five minutes and decided to pass. Either I was still under the effects of riding roller coasters or the movie was making me sick to my stomach. Nicole Kidman played Isabel Bigalow, a witch doing her best to live as a mortal. By a fortunate coincidence of circumstance she falls into the role of an actress playing Samantha Stevens, the character made famous by Elizabeth Montgomery back in the day. There was a scene in the movie where the director and the producer and the other people developing the remake were auditioning a bunch of actresses to be the next Samantha. They were all trying to imitate Ms. Montgomery’s famous nose twitch the trademark subtle gesture that magic is afoot. And none of these actresses could get it right. But the fact is they all got the chance. Of course they were all white. Samantha was white and so it stands to reason that the actresses would all be white. It was about this time that I continued to flip the channels.

Not finding anything interesting on the tube I turned to find something interesting on the internet. The blog was slow with activity. I am only guessing but I think it was because it was the Memorial Day weekend. But I did run across someone asking that if white privilege was such a phenomenon why weren’t more white people taking advantage of it? If white privilege was so overwhelming how come all white people don’t benefit from it?

I thought back to the scene in Bewitched where all the white women were auditioning to be the next Samantha. Why couldn’t a black woman audition to be the next Samantha? Would it be too much of a stretch to think that the public would accept a black woman playing the lead female role? What if they could put a spin on the show and give Darren, Samantha’s husband, a seriously strong case of jungle fever. That would put a new spin on an old show. People want something different and that is sure to be something different. What if Darren was made black? An all black cast to a remake of a popular television show could work and could give a totally different and interesting spin.

But the show specifically targeted white women for their Samantha Stevens. The show specifically targeted a white man for Darren Stevens. And while they couldn’t hire all white people who apply, they can make sure that the opportunities they do offer go to only white people. This is a prime example of the white privilege phenomenon. White privilege does not necessarily mean that all white people have it made. White privilege means that there is a focus to assure that only white people will have the better chances for opportunities of success.

To many people, the idea of a black Darren or a black Samantha or even both characters being portrayed as black is too much of a turnoff to take seriously. Too many people would pass the movie over or even protest the film if word leaked out that an all white classic television show was going to feature an all black cast. The theory is that not as many people would care to see black people on the silver screen as they would want to see white people. People from the racially generic dominant culture are less apt to respond positively to black people portraying classic white television characters. Movies and television shows are less likely be as successful with black actors and actresses. The majority of the public just can’t relate to black people being the superhero, black people having courage, or black people having any of the characteristics and experiences that make their life interesting in the eyes of the dominant culture. It is widely accepted that the people just naturally want to see white people everywhere.

Generally speaking the public has been conditioned to accept white privilege. We expect a white person to be the one in control, the one in the majority regardless of the scenario, the one on the big screen, the one on the small screen, the only character that matters in a story about Africa at the turn of the century. The scenario really doesn’t matter as long as we have a white person to relate to. It is a given that the white person will be the most appropriate person for the role. Many of us have been conditioned to the point that we automatically assume that the white person is the best candidate for the job despite their qualifications or the qualification of the black candidate.

I’ve heard so many white people give their story of how affirmative action destroyed a friend’s or family member’s life because he or she didn’t get the job when a black person got it. White privilege says black people are never the best candidate. White privilege says that only white people need apply or will have every advantage to be the most appropriate candidate simply because they are white. A black Samantha? Please! Next thing you know black people will start to think they are white people’s equals.

Ron is a visitor to my blog who posted a comment to my article titled Reverse Discrimination Is Bogus. The comment was pure fictional racist garbage. I hate pure fictional racist garbage. And I really hate it when pure fictional racist garbage appears as a comment. Captain Ron wants to take a stab at explaining the realities of reverse discrimination and how the white community is suffering from the onslaught of unqualified black people taking white people’s employment and educational opportunities. To anyone with a firm grasp on reality this should be good for a laugh or two.

1.) Reverse discrimination is “discrimination against a member of a social group generally regarded as dominant or privileged, e.g. in employment or admission to a university,” However, this is not the only definition, I can site.

No problem here!

2.) You have it backwards, being black, female, or any minority makes any claim of discrimination automatic and white parties are routinely prosecuted without evidence. It’s in the news all the time like the white college boys who had their lives ruined only to find out later there was never any evidence at all. I could write a book about this alone. The bottom line is the only group no one takes seriously is “white males” when they claim discrimination. I know from experience.

This is such bull. What white party has been prosecuted without any evidence? “[T]he white college boys who had their lives ruined only to find out later there was never any evidence at all.” Well you go ahead and write your book. I’m pretty sure it will appear in the fiction category at the bookstore. If white males were never taken seriously when they claim discrimination then why are cases of reverse discrimination so prolific these days? Why is the Supreme Court on record for making grossly flippant rulings such as the best way to combat racism is not to look at racism. As if we all can walk into an employment office, fill out an application, and no one will ever know the race of the application. Why should white male’s claim of discrimination be taken seriously when the vast majority of American institutions are controlled by white males?

White people are so focused on individual discrimination. A white male can win discrimination cases because he, a single white individual, feels that he has been discriminated against. Racial discrimination refers to a policy where an entire group of people must deal with racial preferences that negatively affect an entire community’s ability to achieve educational and economic opportunities.

Those white boys’ lives are ruined? Please! I have every confidence that they will still find jobs and will still be able to use their family’s wealth to buy an education. Money has the affect to overcome a great deal of hurdles here in America. But on the flipside, how many black people, black neighborhoods, black communities have been affected by white people feeling entitled to keep black people out of their social circles? We are not talking about an individual, we are referring to an entire group of people.

3.) The race card is a practice routinely used by blacks to get their way. Quite frankly it’s the easy way, a short cut. For a white guy it’s only used as a last resort. I am talking about in today’s world, not worn out examples from the 1950’s. I have seen many saying so when they though no one was listening, I have heard blacks and other groups talking about ways to use this to get unfair treatment just so they wouldn’t have to do the same workloads as other co-workers. So to say it’s a myth, is a load of ….. A white guy typically can’t use the race card to get better treatment. It’s actually harder for any white guy to make a claim than anyone else simply because, we are white.

If that was the case every major corporation in the country would be well represented with black executives, black managers, and black professionals at all levels of employment instead of just the janitorial services or the mailroom. Your contention is that all black people have to do is call the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and BAAM we’re in. “I am talking about in today’s world, not worn out examples from the 1950’s. I have seen many saying so when they [thought] no one was listening,” You must be some kind of stealth ninja to be able to infiltrate black people talking about how they’re going to take advantage of the system so much. But take a break from spying on black people long enough to turn on the television and watch the news for a second. Listen to white people in West Virginia and Kentucky saying things like, “I just can’t see a black man being President.” What they meant to say is, “I don’t want any black man to be President.” That’s from earlier this week and not from 1950. And let’s not forget Geraldine Ferraro’s comment about the only reason people are voting for Barack Obama is because he is black. If these are not examples of white people playing the race card I don’t know what is.

4.) The facts are there are many tools used specifically to discriminate against whites; Equal opportunity and Affirmative action are prime examples. Many whites have been refused promotions and fired while people with lesser job experience have been hired or promoted to replace them over the years. Think back to the eighties and nineties for so many examples, it’s frightening. Anyone who has been in the work force for any good length of time, say twenty years or so can tell you these same things.

This is too ridiculous. How many white people have been passed over for a lesser qualified white person? But the only case that white people take note of is when they assume that a lesser qualified black person gets the opportunity. According to dominant culture logic, it is impossible for the black candidate to be the more qualified candidate simply because he or she is black. “Think back to the eighties and nineties for so many examples, it’s frightening.” What’s frightening is that white people like you continue to spread this propaganda without a shred of evidence to back it up. If this claim was remotely true black people would have a lower rate of unemployment, higher rates of pay than their white counterparts, and all we have to do is take a look at any American corporation to see that it isn’t true. But some people will go to their death pushing this crap they pull out their ass.

5.) Everyone I know (white) has been let go while blacks and other minorities were kept on. Often they took these jobs at a lower rate of pay but not because of management, but because they wanted to undercut the person ahead of them to get their jobs. Many pay scales, benefits, etc have been lost because the incoming workers didn’t care about these things. Now they are destroyed and many job positions are combined, unions ineffective, lost healthcare, etc are gone. This was done just because the incoming minority workers didn’t have the experience, knowledge, or plain common sense to protect the workers rights they trampled just to get their jobs.

The propaganda is truly strong with this one.

Again, black unemployment rates run considerably higher than white unemployment rates. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white unemployment runs about 4.1% while black unemployment runs about 8.3%. White men, the victims of your work of fiction, have an unemployment rate of about 4.2%. Black men, who can walk into any employment office and make a complaint to get a job, have an unemployment rate of about 9.1%. Don’t take my word for it. Please visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics by clicking here.

On average black people earn less than what white people earn. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, While the average income of the white male, runs about $822, the average income of the black male, who according to you claims is constantly being promoted at the expense of the more qualified white male, is about $604. The black male makes only seventy three percent the salary of his white counterpart. Or examined from another perspective, the average white male earns almost forty percent more than his black counterpart. Government supplied facts appear to be unraveling your propaganda. Please click here to see these facts on your own.

6.) Our economic structure is severely crippled today and instead of being a world leader like we were twenty five or so years ago, we have fell behind many other countries. We eliminated good paying jobs, benefits, and our global standing just so people could take a shortcut to getting a good job, instead of earning a job by hard work. Instead of hiring based on experience today, we only hire based on race, sex, or age.

Our economic security has been weakened considerably because American corporations that are so focused on squeezing every penny out of an investment that these companies are willing to engage in a variety of policies that continue to cut into middle America’s ability to earn a living. Jobs are exported overseas to countries with a lower standard of living and less government regulation to make a far more profitable environment. Companies use every excuse to raise profits and lower expenses. The vast majority of these countries are controlled by white people. Speaking of short cuts, these companies are willing to take a short cut to maximum profitability by exporting jobs instead of investing in the work force. When the products and services are produced outside the country, that’s less people inside the country who can afford to take advantage of the products and services without borrowing money. As a nation, We have borrowed ourselves into a debt hole that we will take centuries to dig ourselves out of.

That’s a real oversimplification of the problems we are facing, but it should be sufficient compared to the racist muck of your comment. Like a good racist/sexist, you want to blame America’s problem on minorities and women. White people like you talk about black people taking short cuts when every comment you made is based on a short cut of a thought process, as if any thought was given to this crap at all.

7.) You wonder why racism is a problem today? Because unlike what our founding fathers intended, equality for all, everything its tilted in the minorities favor because a few wanted a free ride.

I beg your pardon. I don’t wonder why racism is a problem today, yesterday, or tomorrow. Racism is a problem because despite the reality of white privilege, especially white male privilege, people like you will continue to operate out of a condition of fear and ignorance about things that you have not the slightest clue as to what you are talking about. Everything is tilted in minorities favor despite government statistics and realities all around us that say differently. You are a credit to your creed. It is people like you who give white people a bad name.

In 1849, at the age of twenty nine, give or take a year, Harriet Tubman escaped the system of institutionalized slavery in the state of Maryland and ran for freedom in Pennsylvania. Ms. Tubman made extensive use of the famous Underground Railroad network. It is believed that she took a common route for fleeing slaves which was northeast along the Choptank River, through Delaware and then north into Pennsylvania.

It was a journey of nearly ninety miles. Traveling by foot it would take a person between five days and three weeks. She traveled at night guided by the North Star. She had to avoid slave catchers that were just all too eager to collect a reward for the return of a fugitive slave. Through a variety of deceptions a number of people helped to hide, protect, and move her. At one house, Ms. Tubman hid in plain sight sweeping the yard to make it appear as though she belonged to the home owners. When night fell, she was hidden in a cart and taken to the next friendly house. The true particulars of her escape remain a mystery. But she admitted that she crossed into Pennsylvania with an overwhelming sense of liberation. Said Ms. Tubman, “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.”

But it wasn’t enough for Ms. Tubman just to be free. Immediately after reaching the city of Philadelphia, she began thinking of her family. Said Ms. Tubman, “I was a stranger in a strange land. My father, my mother, my brothers, and sisters, and friends were [in Maryland]. But I was free, and they should be free.” No stranger to work, Ms. Tubman began to work odd jobs and save money. Shortly after her arrival, the United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 forcing law enforcement officials throughout the entire union to aid in the capture of fugitive slaves and imposed heavy punishments on those who helped them escape. The law increased risks for escaped slaves. Many headed north to Canada.

In December of that year, Ms. Tubman received word that her niece Kessiah was going to be sold along with her two children, six-year-old James Alfred, and baby Araminta who remained in Cambridge, Maryland. Horrified at the prospect of having her family broken further apart, Ms. Tubman did something very remarkable. Ms. Tubman voluntarily returned to Maryland and risked her freedom. She went to Baltimore, where she hid her until the time of the sale of her relatives. Kessiah’s husband, a free black man named John Bowley, made the winning bid for his wife. While he stalled to make arrangements to pay, Kessiah and her children disappeared to a nearby safe house. When night fell, Mr. Bowley ferried the family on a log canoe sixty miles to Baltimore. There they met Ms. Tubman, who led the family safely to Philadelphia.

In spring of 1851 Ms. Tubman headed back into the lion’s den of Maryland to guide her brother Moses and two other men to freedom. Word of her exploits had encouraged other blacks. As she led more blacks to freedom she became more confident with each trip into danger. Ms. Tubman risked making the ultimate sacrifice in order to help other enslaved black people. The ultimate sacrifice wasn’t death but the loss of her freedom and the return to cruel enslavement. But her sense of family and her sense of black community compelled her to do for others what she had managed to do for herself at great personal risk.

Ms. Tubman didn’t sit on her ass back in Philadelphia in relative comfort and safety, looking down her nose at other black people who were too afraid to muscle up the courage to make that dangerous trek on their own. It is seriously doubted if Ms. Tubman simply pointed to her success and said, “I did it! Why don’t you pull yourself up by your boot straps and show some personal responsibility?” Ms. Tubman would never have said something as selfish and uncompassionate as what some black conservatives say proudly to applause from their white mindset peers these days. She would never say something akin to “black people aren’t doing enough to lift themselves out of their predicament” or something as assinine as a “black woman will not be truly free from racial restrictions until she can, without guilt or regret, disclaim being black or owing anything to black people. Watch out for the man who says another man has no choice, that he owes a debt to the race.”

In fact, Ms. Tubman didn’t do much talking at all. She lived simply and did what she could to help others find their way. She put her most cherished possession, her freedom, on the line by venturing back to where many escaped slaves feared to tread. She didn’t do it for glory and she never stood in front of anybody to gain their favor. She simply did what she could. Black people everywhere learned about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. We were taught that stuff when we were knee high in school. But instead of learning from her model and learning what it means to actually help others in the black community we relegate her example to the deepest and darkest corners of our consciousness. It is as if many of us have gone through a Vulcan mind meld and have purged any connection of her from our own actions. We applaud her for her selflessness but exercise behavior that is the most remote from her example.

A lot of our modern black, or formerly black, brothers and sisters could learn a lot from this simple woman who is one of our most deserving ancestors whether we in the black community recognize and fully appreciate her sacrifices or not. Black people who have done well and who have achieved levels of success that many of us can only dream of turn back to the black community and say all the rhetorical things about what we should and shouldn’t do, while they sit on their ass in their own personal materialistic heaven. They have truly escaped the bonds that keep the majority of black people imbedded in a system of white privilege and black subjugation. They don’t feel the need to reach back into the black community to pull all the others who dream of true freedom. It’s far better for black people who have made it to sit back and berate other blacks for not being strong enough or fortunate enough or smart enough or bootlicking enough or tom enough.

Although it’s been a long time since anyone had to use the Underground Railroad to escape institutionalized slavery there is a need for another more modern Underground Railroad to help people in the black community escape the chains of enslavement that hold us back today. Some black people do reach back to help other black people. Some are a lot more involved with the black community than others. I know of a high profile black celebrity that talks about how she regularly cleans out her closet and donate clothing to help others. Harriet Tubman could’ve simply cleaned out her closet and call it a day. But she didn’t. She went considerably above the call of duty. She never did it for ego. She never gave one thought that it would make her the cherished ancestor she is today. She just did what she had to do. More people should learn from her example.

There was a story on CNN on how the price of wine could actually affect the human brain’s ability to interpret the pleasure of the taste. The test involved two bottles of wine, one costing eleven dollars a bottle and the other costing just over a hundred dollars a bottle. They poured each wine into two glasses at different prices and put the four glasses in front of a tester with nothing more than a dollar per bottle label to distinguish which glass was which. The three test subjects that were filmed as part of the story chose the glass of wine with the most expensive price as the most enjoyable without fail. One test subject admitted that she was influenced by the price. Another test subject defended his choice because no two bottles of wine are the same, although I really couldn’t see where this was applicable considering that the some bottle at two separate prices resulted in two different flavors. The third test subject admitted his prejudice for the wine in the higher priced glass but also admitted that he didn’t appreciate being deceived.

The testers who developed the test that the article was based on were a lot more scientific in their study of what was happening inside the brain. A bevy of sensors were placed on test subjects heads and MRI scans were made while test subjects made their choice as to which wine was the better. The test results showed different areas of the brain were actually responding differently based on nothing but a difference in price. Fascinating stuff indeed. But while it became scientifically obvious that people can allow the price of a wine prejudice their appreciation of the wine’s flavor what other prejudices can be measured scientifically. Can the principals of this test be applied to measure the influence of racial prejudices against people?

It would be fascinating to see people’s prejudices measured scientifically on an MRI scan. The test can be conducted in such a fashion where the test subjects can be given a set of resume from a group of potential job applicants. The resumes can be developed in such a fashion where the job experiences listed can be quite similar but noticeably different. And then the test subjects can be given a photo of the applicants. It would be interesting to see which parts of the brain will manifest itself as the racist centers. It is my theory that people who are more than willing to subjugate people based on little more than racial stereotypes will exhibit a particular brain pattern or chemical reaction that would manifest.

And just think of all the benefits of being able to measure and document the racial prejudices of people. People who are willing to subjugate minorities could be identified and kept out of positions or occupations that would give them an opportunity to wield their prejudice. Administrators who ran institutions or companies that are unfairly overrepresented by a white population and underrepresented by minorities could be scientifically tested to see how much their racial prejudices influenced their enrollment or employment choices. Police officers who participate in the killing of minorities in a hail of bullets fueled by color arousal can be tested to see how much racial prejudices played a part in their decision to murder a black man for pulling out his wallet. People showing up for jury duty could actually be tested to see if they can actually be racially neutral enough to decide the fate of others. The possibilities would be endless.

Suddenly the best way to counter racism wouldn’t be to stop looking at racism but to actually identify the affects of these mental racial markers and use them to avoid having racist people subjugating others. We could even measure the racism of our judges who actually promote doing nothing in order to keep the status quo of white privilege from being challenged by people who truly want racial diversity. If we could actually determine what motivates people to be racially prejudice then we could take the next steps and actually develop medications and treatment that might help alleviate the need for people to subjugate others. Do you ever get that need to subjugate minorities? Take OpenMindium and kick the need to be a racist habit! Once the affects of racism can be measured scientist could probably discover that there are genetic markers that can determine who is going to be racist. The science of racism could actually end the affects of racism.

But unfortunately, the science of racism would require a commitment from everybody. Unfortunately, too many people not only condone racism but work to promote white privilege and black subjugation. Scientifically showing the influence of racism on people would require people to admit that racism is not just a fabrication, it is not a thing of our past, and that is a problem in our culture. You think the science of global warming is downplayed and minimized? Wait until the science of measuring the genetic racial markers is developed. Too many people are too ready to stick their heads in the sand and do whatever they can to keep things the way they are. People are more likely to be more concerned about why wine taste better when it is more expensive than to worry about why racism still exist in so many facets of American culture.

A white internet surfer was lamenting the fact that white people are being treated like second class citizens. This person felt this way despite the fact that white people control the vast majority of wealth in the United States. He or she felt this way despite the fact that white people obtain the majority of educational opportunities at the majority of institutions for higher learning. This person felt this way even though white people occupy the vast majority of upper, middle, and lower echelons of government positions. And the number of white people who are in executive, middle, and lower management positions in corporate America overwhelms any other racial minority.

This person felt this way despite the vast majority of white actors and actresses in movies and television programs that dwarf their black counterparts. For every black actress there must be a hundred white ones. For every Halley Berry, who claims not to be fully black because her mother was white, there are dozens of Kate Hudsons, Angelina Jolies, Kate Blanchettes, Gwen Stefanis, Reese Witherspoons, and Hillary Swanks. For every Will Smith there are dozens of Joaquin Phoenixes, Jack Blacks, Russell Crowes, Viggo Mortensens, Dennis Quaids, Ben Afflecks, Matt Damons, and Jake Gyllenhaals. But white people who want to go into acting can’t catch a break these days because of all the movies and television programs that don’t feature white people.

Across America there are thousands and thousands of companies with office staffs that are predominantly white. Many of these companies don’t even have a black employee in the office. And many of these companies don’t even have a black person on the payroll. Let one of these companies take proactive steps to racially diversify their workforce and the next white person who doesn’t get a job will be suing with claims of reverse discrimination. White people who apply for jobs at predominantly white companies can’t find a job these days.

From the perspective of a lot of people, white people are treated like second class citizens for having to share social resources with nonwhites. The moment some white people realize that they don’t have an exclusive choke hold on opportunities, these people begin to feel that white existence is under attack. Some people have yet to learn that white privilege is not a god given right but an artificial construct of a culture so dominating that it thinks nothing of locking nonwhites in chains for the crime of being not white.

One of the most evil institutions that ran contrary to the great establishment of white privilege was affirmative action. Wikipedia describes affirmative action as a set of policies and/or programs intended to promote access to education and/or employment opportunities aimed at historically socially or politically oppressed groups, typically minority men and/or women of all races. The motivation for affirmative action policies is to help rectify the effects of wrongful discrimination in the past and to encourage public institutions to be more representative of a racially diverse population.

But the protectors of white privilege countered affirmative action with claims of reverse discrimination. Suddenly, institutions that tried to correct their history of focusing on providing opportunities exclusively to the white community are being too unfair to white people. Companies with beaucoup white people on the payroll are suddenly unfair to white people and are being successfully sued for not hiring even more white people. But white people never sue an institution because an inferior white person is hired. However, it is a near given when black people are involved.

It’s not fair to do anything to correct the hundreds of years white privilege has enjoyed at the expense of the other races. It’s much better to keep the status quo and let white privilege continue rather than give affirmative action any legitimacy. In fact, everyday more and more black people are convinced that affirmative action is more hurtful to the black community than helpful. The fact that many black people calling for its demise actually benefited from these affirmative action programs is just an awful coincidence best overlooked. People who are benefiting from white privilege will support anyone who will promote the end of affirmative action and other concepts that can threaten white privilege. Black people who call for an end to affirmative action are one of this world’s greatest ironies.

White privilege is in no danger of disappearing. It is strong and it is flourishing to greater limits each and every day. No matter what measure a person applies to success white people are overwhelmingly represented.

It must be admitted that white privilege is much more satisfying and/or more gratifying for white people when other races do without. Black people getting jobs mean fewer jobs for white people. It doesn’t matter if white people who make up seventy percent of the population and are already getting ninety five percent of the jobs and the educational opportunities. White privilege needs it all. White privilege needs every last opportunity in order to make sure other people better understand their place in the social, economic, political ladder. White privilege does not thrive when it has to indulge the black community or the Latino community or any other non white community. In order to be secure in itself white privilege needs to make sure it has it all. Anything less is an attack on white privilege.